Established in 1959 and is the largest and oldest non-governmental (NGO) organisation involved in heritage conservation.
As one of the oldest established towns in South Africa, it is important to look not just at the history of Swellendam itself, but how it came to be. *As published in Treasures of Swellendam, 2018 Version.
San (Bushman) hunter-gatherers and Khoekhoen livestock herders inhabited the Western Cape for thousands of years before Europeans arrived in southern Africa. The Khoekhoen had acquired cattle from Bantu-speaking people in the interior of southern Africa about 2 000 years before. They also had unique ridgebacked dogs. The Khoekhoen around Swellendam were part of the Hessequa chiefdom.
The Dutch East India Company (VOC) established a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 solely to supply fresh food to its ships on the Eastern trade route. However, the Company’s vegetable garden failed repeatedly and trade with the Khoekhoen for cattle and sheep became increasingly difficult. Within five years it released some of its servants to farm independently – albeit with the VOC as sole purchaser.
By 1700, ‘free burghers’ were farming the areas around Stellenbosch (established in 1679), Franschhoek and Tulbagh. Armed battles pushed the protesting Khoekhoen out of their traditional grazing lands, and a smallpox epidemic in 1713 decimated their population. European stock farmers (trekboers) had already pushed beyond the settled area into the Overberg – beyond the mountains.
In 1743, therefore, the VOC decided to introduce a collegie of landdrost and heemraden for the frontier district, which was named Swellendam after Governor Hendrik Swellengrebel and his wife Helena ten Damme. The point where the old wagon road to the frontier crossed the Koornlands River was chosen as the site of the Drostdy building, which was erected in 1746/7. Houses for other VOC officials were later built across the road (now the Old Gaol complex) and on the other side of the river along what is now Van Oudtshoorn Street.
The Drostdy was the administrative centre of a huge district. It also became an important stopping point on the road to the frontier, which provided opportunities for wagonmakers, blacksmiths, traders and food suppliers. A small, unplanned settlement gradually developed along the wagon road on the other side of the river. By 1798 there were about 20 scattered houses, but still no church.
The VOC so notoriously neglected the interests of Swellendam’s inhabitants that they declared a short-lived Rebel National Assembly in 1795, and it was only after the VOC’s bankruptcy and the takeover of the Cape by the British that the village began to develop. A church was eventually built in 1802 during the first British Occupation (1795–1803).
The first half of the 19th century was a period of growth and prosperity. Carts and wagons made by Swellendam’s craftsmen were in great demand. Agricultural production – particularly wool from Merino sheep – flourished in the surrounding district. The family firm Barry & Nephews introduced maritime transport from Port Beaufort and Malagas on the Breede River, which provided easy access to markets and goods, and revolutionised the economy. While the operations of Barry & Nephews remained centred in Swellendam (see Nos. 26, 27, 29), their trading and mercantile empire expanded across the entire Overberg.
From the 1830s to the 1860s, Swellendam was the capital of a booming district economy, invigorating social, religious, educational and cultural activity. Most of the finest old buildings in the town, with their interesting architectural layering, date from this period.
Traditional Cape Dutch elements such as thatched roofs, gables and decorative plasterwork abound – much of these the work of slaves (prior to their emancipation in 1834–38) and of a community of skilled Muslim artisans who lived in Lemmetjiesdorp near The Glen (see Nos. 60, 109). These elements were often combined with features introduced by the English, such as large-paned Georgian sash windows, double doors with delicate fanlights, the entrance passage replacing the voorkamer (front room), hipped roofs and dormer gables.
In the 1860s a severe drought caused a slump in agricultural production and put farmers under financial strain; the resultant economic depression badly affected businesses and industries in Swellendam.
Barry & Nephews was already struggling and when its trading steamer, the Kadie, ran aground in the mouth of the Breede River at Cape Infanta (see Nos. 114, 115) in November 1865, it was a fatal blow. The firm was declared bankrupt in 1866.
The final disaster was the Great Fire which broke out in May 1865, completely destroying a large portion of the town centre: many houses and businesses, a hotel, the Wesleyan Chapel, the bank and the printing press (which had published the local newspaper) burnt down.
Despite relief efforts, Swellendam never recovered its former status and prosperity. The economy stagnated and the population declined. Mossel Bay took over from Port Beaufort as the main port of the Overberg. The vast district previously serviced by the Drostdy was subdivided, and the services that Swellendam had previously provided became available in towns such as Caledon, Riversdale, Heidelberg and Bredasdorp.
For the next hundred years, Swellendam developed slowly, by subdivision of existing properties and modest town extensions. Buitekant Street, above the main road, was as its name (outer edge) suggests, the upper limit of the town. Along it many fine examples may be found of Victorian- and Edwardian-styled houses that were built in country districts until the 1930s.
In the mid-19th century, the ‘Nuwedorp’ (New Town) extension – Berg Street and Faure Street – was laid out to the north of the Drostdy. It remained largely rural until the last few decades, and several late 19th to early 20th century vernacular cottages may still be seen in this area, albeit modernised. Swellendam became a typically quiet, slow and peaceful rural town.
A century after the disasters of the 1860s, Swellendam suffered further blows. In 1965 Voortrek Street – which was then still part of the main road to the Southern Cape and beyond – was widened and upgraded to modern provincial engineering standards.
Nearly all the old trees that had previously shaded the road were felled; several notable old buildings were demolished entirely and others – including the Town Hall – lost portions of their frontages and new levels left buildings on the river side of the road sitting in a gulley several steps below the street. Ironically, not long thereafter, the N2 was built to carry through-traffic past Swellendam. But the damage had been done.
Swellengrebel Street and the Drostdy complex were saved from such destruction by the indomitable efforts of historian Dr Mary Cooke, the director of the Drostdy Museum at the time. She managed to have the oaks lining the street declared a national monument (now a provincial heritage resource) in 1955, effectively preventing road-widening.
The infamous Group Areas Act of the Apartheid government was equally destructive on a social level. In the 1970s all ‘non-White’ inhabitants of Swellendam were forcibly removed across the N2 to Railton, where a tiny vernacular settlement already existed. The golf course, regarded as “White” was moved in the opposite direction and reconstructed in its present position. As elsewhere, the town is still struggling to overcome the effects of spatial segregation.
All over the world, as modernist development destroyed old buildings and neighbourhoods, heritage conservation became increasingly popular. In early 1980 a group of concerned Swellendam residents met to form the Swellendam Trust, the forerunner of the present Swellendam Heritage Association. It is one of the oldest local conservation organisations in South Africa, and its tireless efforts over many decades have contributed to the survival of many of the buildings listed here
We aim to encourage the public to preserve our cultural and natural heritage; to stimulate pride and personal interest in conservation by encouraging group projects and voluntary efforts to conserve and improve the environment; to set the work of the SHA on a sound economic basis by raising funds and using such funds for conservation projects and the stimulation of others to conserve and preserve our cultural and natural heritage; to co-operate with all relevant authorities and organisations in pursuit of the aims and objectives of the SHA.
Join
This talk explores Jan Smuts' legacy, his philosophy of holism, and his vision for global peace, drawing on his correspondence with figures like Einstein and Whitman.
This month we are extremely lucky to have John Illsley come to Swellendam and talk to us about Aviation Pioneers in the Western Cape.
The SS Kadie was a steam ship chartered by Joseph Barry for his import & export business basedi in swellendam The ship carries its cargo up the Breede river to Malgas.
SHA are going to visit Genadendal Mission Station, the oldest mission station in South Africa. There will a guided tour followed by lunch at "Fiore" Restaurant in Greyton
Enjoy a telling of the history of Rotterdam; one of the most spectacular Cape Dutch homesteads.
Check it out
Date of Birth: 2 January 1991 - Place of Birth: Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Grandparents of Dutch and French descent
Education:
2009: Swellendam Hoërskool,
2011-2012: ARTEZ NL, Hogeschool Voor De Beeldende Kunsten (Art & Design)
2012: Yoga Institute, 200h RYT
2014-2016: The ALEIT Academy - Events Coordination
2014-2016: The Institute of Culinary Arts - Chef
Work Experience:
2010-2012: Elderly Carer (Netherlands) – Carer
2018-2020: Swellendam Winter School – Team Member
2020- 2024: Sage Goddess – Graphic Design
2023-2025: Messy Matters & Geo-motional Book – Graphic Design
Hobbies:
Pottery, hiking, reading, cooking, art, and music
Born Chadderton UK 1953.
Education: Whitehaven Grammar School, UMIST BSc hons Chemistry, Professional nurse and Midwife.
Worked in various nursing and lecturing roles before specialising in Palliative Care and HIV/AIDS. Now retired but pursuing interests i n ancestral health, the environment and especially South African history and heritage.
Born in 1963 in Cape Town, I attended Rosebank Junior and Rustenburg Girls’ High, matriculating in 1981. I trained in Cartography and Land Surveying before shifting to IT as a financial analyst programmer around Y2K, retiring in 2024. After years split between Cape Town and a decade in Johannesburg, I settled in Swellendam in 2019. I enjoy creative and fibre arts, and have a strong interest in South African history and genealogy, having built my family tree across the Erasmus, Donaldson, du Toit and Viljoen lines.
Born 1947.Matriculated ; Paul Ross Gymnasium (1965) Army Gymnasium (1966)
UP: BSc Agriculture, MSc Agriculture.
Farmed: Kliphoogte & Voorhuis 1974-2015.
Boards of Directors: Soill – 1996-2011
SSK- 1984-2012
Committees:
Retired : researching history of Swellendam over a broad spectrum.
Born 1952 in York , UK.
Education
Sudbury Boys Grammar School.
UMIST (Manchester) 1974 BSc (Hons) Chemistry
Business Management programmes at UCT (Cape Town),
Harvard & Kellogg’s Business Schools in the USA.
Work Experience
1974-77 Research Chemist at Courtaulds, Coventry,UK
1977-90 Saiccor (KZN) Later Sappi Saiccor. Various roles ,
1990-94 Mill GM of the Sappi Usutu pulp mill in Swaziland
1994-2012 Sappi Saiccor as head of the Technical Dept
2012-13 Consultant for Sappi Saiccor
Fully retired end of 2013 moved to Swellendam, 2020.
Born: 1974 Benoni
Matriculated: Hoërskool Brandwag
University of Pretoria: BArch (1993-1997)
Professional Architect: Tanja Kruger Argitekte
Member of SACAP: 6522
Member of Pretoria Institute for Architecture: KR1042
Moved to Swellendam 2017
Short courses: University Museum,Stellenbosch University
2019: Heritage Conservation
2021: Architectural Styles
Committees:
Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk Sustersvereniging Swellendam:Secretary 2019 – present
Board of Trustees Drostdy Museum: Premier’s representative onthe governing body of the Drostdy Museum 2020 – present
Swellendam Heritage Association Committee Member 2024
Hobbies: Art, Architecture, The history of Swellendam and the overberg region.
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